by Jade Wolfe
Pearl was leaning in that direction, trying to figure out what the woman was waving around. "I think it's fur," she said. "If it is, we're in trouble."
I watched Michaels hand the object to Kane, who held it down for Daisy to sniff. She whined - I could hear it from here across the street - and backed away, dragging Kane with her.
She tried to shove herself under the truck.
"Poor pup," Pearl said. "That can't be a good smell for her."
I'd smelled werewolf before, and Pearl was right. It smelled nasty, like some kind of sour fish and old eggs all mixed together. "Tell me about it."
Kane coaxed Daisy out from under the truck and spoke some word in another language. Daisy turned her head away, but then she turned back, like a good dog, and sniffed the fur again. Then she headed for the house.
We walked down the street a little way and watched them disappear around the back corner of the fence, Daisy leading the way.
"Uh-oh," I said. "I think she's trailing them backwards."
"That will lead her back into Red Rock," Pearl answered.
"Right. But we need to go the other way. We need to find the wolves, and they aren't going back willingly without some serious persuasion.”
"OK, so we search this direction, I guess." Pearl studied the woods and seemed just fine with staying in town, werewolves or not. "That's logical, right?"
I looked back toward the woods, where the dog disappeared, and then down the street. Both ways. I opened my mouth, about to ask if she had any directional preference, when a scream cut through the quiet evening air, coming from the left.
We looked at each other, eyes wide, and ran that way.
Chapter Eight
Pearl led me toward the center of town, our boots pounding on warm pavement in the afternoon sun. I decided after half a block that she was right - I wouldn't ever be a superhero, purely because I hated running. I could do it, but I hated it. My gaze scanned the streets and alleyways as we passed, looking for trouble. We made it about three blocks before we got passed by the first of the police cars. They squealed their tires making the next right, lights flashing but no sirens. "They're heading for the river. I think," I said to Pearl.
"The bridge," she called back.
One of the most obvious landmarks in Wilding was a huge bowstring arch bridge, painted blue and yellow. It spanned the river and connected Wilding to the interstate. According to Lucy, it also sheltered more than a few local characters who didn't have a more permanent home. She took food down a couple of times a week, and she always invited me to come along, but until today I'd never been down there.
The banks on this side of the bridge were fairly steep, cut with concrete stairs that descended underneath to a paved walking trail that meandered along the river. I saw people using it sometimes on my way through town, but this evening it was nearly deserted. The trail stretched out along the water and the stones embedded in the concrete path sparkled in the setting sun. It would have been a nice, peaceful scene, except for the pack of giant wolves watching us from the river's banks and the bridge over our heads.
Two of the wolves were fighting over something just under the bridge, in the shadows. I was afraid to see what it was, but I knew we had to go there.
"Oh, no," I said. "The cop."
The police car that passed us had pulled into the parking lot that served the walking trail, and an older man in uniform was making his way toward the stairs. "He’s dead if we don’t stop him," I said.
Pearl gasped and started running. There were more sirens screaming our way, but they would never get here in time.
I formed a quick ball of fire in my hands, feeling it come to life against my palms. They would burn tomorrow, maybe even blister, but I added as much energy to it as I could anyway. I could take the werewolves out one by one, but there wasn't time. I was only going to get one shot at this.
"Pearl, duck!" I yelled. She dropped immediately. I made a quick check over both shoulders to make sure no one was watching, then let loose with my fireball, aiming for the thickest mass of the twenty or so wolves in my line of sight. I still wouldn't kill more than three or four, but hopefully I could distract them long enough to save the cop and maybe the victim under the bridge, although I doubted that last one.
The explosion rocked the ground and I saw chunks of concrete flying into the air. Part of the walkway would be destroyed, and hopefully a few wolves along with it. I saw animals scatter in every direction beyond the smoky dust.
Pearl was flat on the ground, far enough back that nothing was going to hit her, and the cop had dropped too, maybe ten feet farther on, near the top step. I ran into the smoke, grabbing him by a foot and dragging him out of the way. He had some blood on his cheek when he turned to look up at me, but I thought it was coming from a small cut. He was already struggling to get up.
"Stay here," I yelled to him, then jumped over him and headed for the place where I'd seen the two wolves fighting. If that was what I thought, I wasn't going to be much help, but I had to try.
I took the stairs two at a time, only realizing too late that there was someone directly behind me. Good, maybe some help was finally here.
I jumped past the last three stairs and ran to where I'd seen the wolves.
And stopped short. Whoever was behind me bumped into my back, just as I started cussing.
"What the hell?" a male voice growled.
I turned to see Mr. SexyButt from the police station staring over my shoulder at the two dead bodies in the shadow of the bridge.
One of those bodies was a female, probably the screamer we heard that sent us running this way. It wasn't pretty - the female, who had once been a pretty woman, chubby and with long dark hair, partially pulled down from a bun now. She was wearing jeans and a bra, both soaked with blood, and missing an arm. Her ribs had been ripped open when the wolves had dug into the soft meat of her belly. Nearby, maybe twenty feet away, lay a bundled red mass that was probably her shirt. I hoped her arm wasn't still inside it.
The second body, a male, didn't have a scratch on him. He was one of the werewolves.
This was a consequence I hadn't foreseen - the one where werewolves turned back into humans when they died. Now we had one victim and one unexplained death.
Pearl caught up with me - us - and stopped short, gasping for breath. As much as I hated running, she hated it worse.
I stepped in front of the stranger and tried to block his view a little.
I felt clammy and hot. I turned away, fighting the urge to throw up on the crime scene.
"Indigo," Pearl said quietly beside me.
"I know." My words were strangled.
"What do we...?"
I didn't know. I didn't know anything, except that we needed to get this man out of here before he started asking too many questions about the supposedly 'unharmed' victim. I shifted to block his line of sight again, but he just looked around me.
I waved a hand for Pearl to hush a minute. The sirens were almost here, and they were giving me an idea. I could only think of one thing to do and it would either save our asses or completely blow our cover.
I turned to Mr. SexyButt. He was very close, close enough that I caught a whiff of some woodsy aftershave. His eyes met mine, anger and shock mingling together. "Could you go back to the parking lot and show the cops where to find us?"
He looked from me to the bodies on the walking path.
"Please? I'd do it, but I might be sick." I tried to look as pouty and cute as Pearl, but I doubted I nailed it. Still, I thought it was working. He studied my face, and I saw the slightest hint of sympathy in his eyes. He nodded once and dashed back up the stairs.
Pearl looked even more frantic. She grabbed my shoulders. "What do we do?"
I pulled up a ball of fire and let it pulse in my hands. Then I sucked in a deep breath, because I hadn't been lying to that guy. I might really hurl all over my feet here. I nodded toward the male. "I'm going to create a distraction. Get him
into the river."
"All right, but what about them?" I could barely hear her over the sirens now. They should be pulling into the lot.
She nodded toward the bridge and I looked up.
Hell. The concrete barrier that kept idiots from driving over the side of the bridge was lined with werewolves. Dark and shaggy against the last of the orange sun, they were all watching us closely. My little explosion had scared them, but not nearly enough. I fought the urge to step back.
"Just go. We can only deal with one thing at a time right now, and if the cops find the dead werewolf, the gig is up. And don't step in the blood."
I turned before I was even finished talking and threw the fireball hard against the bank just above where we stood. There were a few small trees there, Wilding's attempt to go green, and just like I'd hoped, they caught first. Then the grass and some shrubbery. In a few seconds we were surrounded by a wall of fire, just in time - Mr. SexyButt's head popped over the rise with a cop in tow.
Both of them disappeared behind a burst of flame. I screamed “Help!" and waved my arms for good measure, then sprinted over to help Pearl with the dead body. Now we had to hope the cops would wait for the fire department to get here before coming to our rescue.
So far, so good. I didn't see how anyone could battle their way through that kind of heat.
I grabbed an arm and a leg, while she had both arms wrapped around his torso. His body was clammy and gross. My fingers sank into once hard muscles in a way that gave me the creeps. "Drag him over here, then just roll him," I said.
He was heavier than he looked, and the way his free limbs were flopping around made moving him that much harder. I kept losing my grip on his ankle.
"Ooh, that's so gross," Pearl said, turning her head and gagging a little. "Just. Oh, God, why do we have to do this?"
"Because we have one mutilation victim and no way to explain another victim that's perfectly fine," I snapped. "You don't think Michaels will have a few questions about this guy?"
She didn't answer, just kept dragging, and we dropped him on the edge of the river bank. Twenty feet below us, the swollen river raged past, heading for the ocean. A cold breeze rolled off the water, contrasting with the heat of the fire at my back. We dropped him on the grass and gave him a good shove. He rolled about three feet and then stopped.
I moaned.
"What the hell are you two doing?"
I gasped and spun to see Michaels and the mystery guy headed our way. How long had they been able to see us?
Chapter Nine
"He...he woke up," Pearl said, pointing at the man’s body. She started to cry, and even I couldn't tell if the tears were real or fake. "He started to run, but I think he was confused."
She ran to Michaels and threw herself against his wide chest. She sort of slid off him before he caught her, so she clasped one big arm in both of hers. Whatever, it was working. She looked up at him with wet eyes. "Then he...he...he...." she hiccupped. "He felllll!"
She was wailing now, giving it all she had. I was impressed.
I caught Mr. SexyButt staring at me, eyebrows raised. He wasn't believing a word of this and it was written all over his face. I let my lip quiver and nodded my agreement with Pearl's story.
Michaels was rocking Pearl gently back and forth, looking rather smug. I got the impression he'd played out this exact fantasy in his head more than once - Pearl had that effect on men. Now he could be her hero for real. Whatever kept him distracted was fine with me.
When her shoulders stopped shaking and she wiped her eyes, he gently backed her away and went over to look at our dead guy. I followed him. "This," he said, kneeling down for a closer look, "Is Eli Winters. He's been missing for two years now."
He looked up at me. I shrugged, because right now I had plausible deniability. I hadn't been here for two years. I could help out with his official story, though.
"Why is he naked, do you think?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Eli was always a little quacky, you ask me. Spent too much time by himself, kept disappearing from his job."
Probably because he kept wolfing out, I thought.
"Wonder what killed him?" Michaels turned the guy’s head, took a closer look, and let it flop back to the right.
I didn't volunteer that I'd probably slammed his head against something when my first fireball went off. Instead, I left him to his inspection and went to comfort poor, still-sobbing Pearl. "Sheriff, would it be all right if I took Pearl on home? I'm afraid she's not really strong enough to handle this sort of thing."
He glanced up from the red shirt bundle, looked us over and nodded. "Somebody will come by in the morning to get a statement from you two."
"Are we in trouble for something?" I asked, letting my voice break in mock fear. "We were only trying to help..."
Pearl renewed her sobbing.
Michaels waved a hand. "No, I don't think so. I don't know why Eli was here, or where he came from, but I don't think either of you had anything to do with it.
I sent a silent thank you toward the sky and turned Pearl away, mumbling soothing incoherent things and rubbing her shoulder. The good-looking stranger watched us go, his gaze calm but suspicious. I offered him a trembling smile.
The fire department had arrived, shooting long plumes of white water over the fire and soaking down the grass and trees in the vicinity. I led Pearl up the path about ten feet, then steered her to the right and started up the bank. We were almost to the top when I heard footsteps pounding behind us.
"Hey, you."
I turned to see the stranger coming to a stop about five feet away, halfway up the bank.
"What started the fire?" he called.
Good question. I thought fast. "I don't know, a gas main maybe?" I yelled back. "Ask them." I nodded toward the firemen and led Pearl the rest of the way to the top and across the parking lot, hoping desperately that he didn't follow us with more questions. We were all the way to the Escalade before I breathed freely.
"That was nerve-wracking," Pearl said, slumping into the passenger seat and slamming her door.
"Tell me about it." I started the SUV and gripped the steering wheel for a moment. "You think they believed us?"
She shook her head. She was a mess - her makeup was streaked, she'd somehow torn the knee of her jeans, and there was blood on the toe of her boot. "I'm sure Michaels did, but that other guy? No way. Did you see the way he was watching us?"
I was staring at the boot. "Are you getting blood in my car?" I asked.
"What?" She looked down and lifted her boot to look. "Maybe a little."
"Pearl! Pick up your foot!"
"And do what?"
"I don't know, but I don't want werewolf blood in my carpet. Stick it out the window or something."
She shot me an incredulous look. "You're kidding?"
"No, I'm not." I used my button to roll the passenger window down.
She sighed and shook her head, but stuck her foot out the window. "You're ridiculous."
"Can't help it." I made a mental note to find out if there were any detail shops in the area, then shifted my attention back to her. "What now?"
"We can't leave without corralling the wolves. They'll just keep on killing."
She was right. "So we hunt for werewolves."
"We've also got a bloodhound and law enforcement on their way to Red Rock," she reminded me.
I rubbed my temples. "What do we do first?"
"Why not both? I'll take the car back to Red Rock. You stay here and go hunting."
I nodded. That made perfect sense. "Can you repair the barrier while you're there?"
"I think so. Hopefully Lucy and Miranda will be home soon. They can help. We need to get this under control - I've got a date Friday."
I looked at her. "It's Tuesday."
She glared at me. "Do you know how many outfits I need to try on between now and Friday? Then I've got to do my hair. After that I need to create the right shoes. Jeez, In
digo. It's like you never dated before."
"Well, I never made it a career," I muttered, putting the Escalade into reverse and checking the rear-view.
Someone was standing there. I gasped and hit the brakes, throwing Pearl back against the seat.
"What?" she asked.
"We've got company." I watched the stranger come around the side of the car. He knocked on my window. "Start crying again," I mumbled, rolling the window down.
"Bite me," she muttered back. "And get rid of him, we've got a lot to do."
"What?" I asked him.
"What the hell is going on around here?" he asked, leaning against the door and crossing his arms on the open window. "Can you two tell me that?"
"Uh, apparently someone is terrorizing the town and murdering people, I guess."
He shook his head. "Nope, it's more than that."
I looked at his lips. Very full, very kissable. "We...we don't know any more than you, Mr...?"
"Sam. Sam Salinger."
This was the guy Tom had come to bother. "Any relation to the writer?"
"None. Will you tell me what you know?"
"I don't know anything."
He smirked at that. I fought the urge to smack him, because that wasn't nice. "I mean, I don't know any more than you about what's going on around here."
It wasn't a complete lie. I didn't know who the rogue witch was, why she had dismantled the barrier, or how to fix it all without a lot of people dying. "If you'll excuse us, we need to go."
He took a step back, and I thought he was leaving. I started to roll up the window.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Like I told Sheriff Michaels, I'm taking Pearl home."
Pearl." He nodded to her. "And you're Indigo. Pretty name."
"Thanks. Will there be anything else, detective?"
He laughed at that, a deep gravelly sound that I liked. A lot. "I'm not a detective."
"Oh, that's right. You're a lawyer. I forgot. Your friend Tom is driving us crazy these days. You should tell him to go on home."
